Saturday, November 30, 2013

Käthe (Katharina) Dorsch(29 December 1890 - 25
December 1957) was a German actress. She was born in theBavariantown ofNeumarkt in der Oberpfalz, the daughter of a bakery
helper. Her family moved toNuremberg, when she was three years
old. Dorsch attended a commercial school and had her first engagement aged 15
as a choir singer at theStaatstheater, performing Wagner'sDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg. She appeared inCarl Zuckmayer's 1927 playSchinderhannes.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Vika from Kiev sent me this lovely card featuring the Great Lavra Bell Tower in that fine city of hers. The Great Lavra Bell Tower or the Great Belfry is the main bell tower of the ancientcave monastery of Kiev Pechersk Lavra in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is one of the most notable buildings of the Kiev skyline (see picture).

The bell tower was the highest free-standing bell tower at the time of its construction in 1731–1745. It was designed by the architect Johann Gottfried Schädel. Its total height, with the Christian cross, is 96.5 metres (316 feet).

The Great Lavra Bell Tower is a Classical style construction with a total of four tiers, surmounted by a gilded dome. The diameter of the tower's lowest tier at its base is 28.8 metres (94 feet), and the thickness of the first tier walls is 8 metres (26 feet). The tower's foundation exceeds 7 metres (22 feet). The tower is decorated with many architectural columns: the second tier is decorated with 32 Dorian columns, the third tier is decorated with 16 Ionic columns, and the fourth with 8 Corinthian columns.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Walter Scheel(born 8 July 1919) is a German politician (FDP). He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 to 16 May 1974 (following the resignation of Willy Brandt after the Guillaume Affair), and finally as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1979.

He is currently the oldest former German president alive and the longest-lived German head of state.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

La
Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción (Spanish
for The Holy Mary of the
Immaculate Conception), or La Santa
María, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher
Columbusin his first voyage. Her master and owner wasJuan
de la Cosa.

TheSanta
María was probably a medium
sized nao (carrack),
about 58 ft (17.7 m) long on deck, and according to Juan Escalante de
Mendoza in 1575, the Santa Maria was "very little larger than 100 toneladas"
(About 100 tons, or tuns)burthen,
or burden,and
was used as theflagshipfor the expedition. The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the
smallercaravel-type
shipsSanta Clara,
remembered asLaNiña("The
Girl"), andLaPinta("The
Painted"). All these ships were second-hand (if not third or more) and
were not intended for exploration. TheNiña,Pinta, and theSanta
María were modest sized
merchant vessels comparable in size to a modern cruising yacht,
and not the largest ships in Europe at the time. The exact measurements of
length and width of the three ships have not survived, but good estimates of
their burden capacity can be judged from contemporary anecdotes written down by
one or more of Columbus' crew members, and contemporary Spanish and Portuguese
ship wrecks from the late 15th and early 16th centuries which are comparable in
size to that of the Santa Maria; These include the ballast piles and keel
lengths of theMolasses
Reef Wreckand
Highborn Cay Wreck in the Bahamas. Both were caravel type vessels 19 m
(62 ft) inlength
overall, 12.6 m (41 ft) keel length and 5 to 5.7 m
(16 to 19 ft) in width, and rated between 100 and 150 tons
burden.TheSanta María, being Columbus' largest ship, was only about this size, and theNiña and Pinta were even tinier, at only 50 to 75 tons burden and perhaps 15-18
meters (50 to 60 feet) on deck (updated dimensional
estimates are discussed below in the section entitledReplicas).

Monday, November 25, 2013

Thank you Jessica for this lovely card showing the three
masted gaff rigged schooner"Anny von Hamburg"
in Hamburg harbour.

Hamburg, is thesecond largest cityinGermanyand theninth largest cityin theEuropean Union.On the riverElbe, theport of Hamburgis the second largest port
in Europe (after thePort of Rotterdam) and tenth largest
worldwide.

The official name reflectsits historyas a member of the
medievalHanseatic League, as afree imperial cityof theHoly Roman Empire, and that it is acity-state, and one of the 16 states of Germany.

Hamburg is a majortransport huband is one of the mostaffluentcities in Europe. It has become a media and industrial centre. Hamburg
has been an important financial centre for centuries, and is the seat of the world's second oldest bank,Berenberg Bank.

The city is a major tourist destination for both domestic and
overseas visitors; itranked 17thin the world forlivabilityin 2012,and in 2010 it ranked 10th
in the world.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Ella sent me this very expressive card. The theme of which is obviously the classroom. The school classroom which is the very corner-stone of Finland's enviable success in the field of education. The stamp on this card and the card itself salutes and commemorates those responsible for success in education in Finland. For more on this issue please see my post on my stamps blog www.letstalkstamps.blogspot.com today.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

My friend Ella sent me these cards issued by Itella Posti for Christmas this year. The stamps on them are of special significance as this is the 40th Anniversary of Finnish Christmas stamps. You can get more info on my other blog namely www:/letstalkstamps.blogspot.com. Thank you Ella for these lovely cards.

Friday, November 08, 2013

My friend Karoly sent me this card of Belgrade, showing a few important sites there. Belgradeis thecapitaland largest city ofSerbia. It is located at the confluence of theSavaandDanuberivers, where thePannonian Plainmeets theBalkans.Its name translates toWhite city. Thecity properhas a population of over 1.2 million; 1.65 million people live within theadministrative limits.

One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, theVinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity,Thraco-Daciansinhabited the region, and after 279 BCCeltsconquered the city, naming itSingidūn.It wasconquered by the Romansduring the reign ofAugustus, and awardedcity rightsin the mid 2nd century.It was settled by theSlavsin the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, Frankish Empire, Bulgarian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary before it became the capital ofSerbian King Stephen Dragutin(1282–1316). In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by theOttoman Empireand became the seat of theSanjak of Smederevo.It frequently passed from Ottoman toHabsburgrule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during theAustro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841.Northern Belgrade remained the southernmostHabsburgpost until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times.Belgrade was the capital ofYugoslavia(in various forms of governments) from its creation in 1918, toits final dissolution in 2006.

Belgrade has a specialadministrative statuswithin Serbiaand it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into17 municipalities, each with its own local council.It covers 3.6% of Serbia's territory, and 22.5% of the country's population lives in the city.The city has been awarded many titles, and the nomination forEuropean Capital of Culture2020.

Thursday, November 07, 2013

The personality featured on this maxi card issued in Germany, is Maria Sibylla Merian(2 April 1647 – 13 January 1717) who was aGerman-bornnaturalistand scientific illustrator, a descendent of theFrankfurtbranch of the SwissMerian family, founders of one of Europe's largest publishing houses in the
17th century.

Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather,Jacob Marrel, a student of thestill lifepainterGeorg Flegel. She remained in Frankfurt until 1670, relocating subsequently toNuremberg,AmsterdamandWest Friesland. Merian published her first book of natural illustrations, titledNeues Blumenbuch, in 1675 at age 28.In 1699, following eight years of painting and studying, and on the
encouragement ofCornelis van Aerssen van
Sommelsdijck, the then-governor of the
South American Dutch colony ofSurinam, Merian was awarded a grant by the city of Amsterdam to travel to
Surinam with her daughter Dorothea.After two years there, she
was forced return to Europe as result ofmalaria.She then proceeded to publish her major work,Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, in 1705, for which she became famous. Because of her careful
observations and documentation of themetamorphosisof thebutterfly, she is considered among the most significant contributors to the field
ofentomology.Thank you Maria for this card.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Postage stampswere issued in theSouth African-administered colony ofSouth West Africafrom 1914 to 1989. TheSouth African ArmyoverranGerman South-West Africain 1914–15 and, in 1922, aLeague of Nationsmandate
gave South Africa the responsibility of administering the colony, now renamedSouth West Africa. South Africa controlled the
postal service untilNamibianindependence in 1989. After World
War II, the mandate was supposed to transform the colony into aUnited Nations Trust Territory, but
South Africa objected to it coming under UN control and refused to allow the
territory's transition to independence, regarding it as a fifth province.

South African stamps were used
from 1914 until 1923. The first stamps inscribedSouth
West Africawere
issued bilingually in English and Afrikaans (Suidwest Afrika) on 1 January
1923. From 1970, the abbreviation SWA
was in general use.In 1989,
the last stamps of South West Africa were a set of 15 depicting minerals and
mining. The stamps were unusual in that only a short while after their issue
the illegal Republic of South West
Africa was declared independent, becomingNamibia. As the stamps were new, most of the designs were kept with only
the name changed (cuprite was dropped and willemite added for the Namibian
issue). Another problem was that one of the stamps, forboltwoodite, had an error in its chemical
equation. This was corrected in the Namibian issue.Namibia
has issued regulardefinitiveandcommemorative stampssince independence in 1989,NamPostbeing its postal authority. The stamp on this maxi card was issued by the Govt of South West Africa to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the landing of Bartholomeu Dias at Walvis Bay.

Bartolomeu
Dias(1451 – 29 May 1500), a nobleman of the Portugueseroyal household, was aPortugueseexplorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488,
the first European known to have done so. Bartolomeu Dias was aKnightof the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses,
and sailing-master of theman-of-war,São
Cristóvão(Saint
Christopher). King John II of Portugalappointed him, on 10 October 1487, to head an expedition to
sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to
India. Dias was also charged with searching for the lands ruled byPrester John, who was a fabled Christian priest and ruler.

After having sailed past Angola,
Dias reached the Golfo da Conceicão
(Walvis Bay) by December. Dias, who stopped at what today isWalvis BayandLüderitz(which he named
Angra Pequena). This maxi card has been postmarked at Luderitz.

Having rounded theCape of Good Hopeat a
considerable distance, Dias continued east and entered what he named Aguada de
São Brás (Bay ofSaint
Blaise)—later renamedMossel Bay—on 3
February 1488. Dias's expedition reached its furthest point on 12 March 1488
when they anchored atKwaaihoek, near
the mouth of theBushman's
River, where apadrão—the
Padrão de São Gregório—was erected before turning back.Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but
he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further.It was only on the return voyage that he
actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. Dias returned toLisbonin
December of that year, after an absence of sixteen months.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

The stamp on this maxi card issued by Germany on 14.2.1991 was to commemorate the 400th Birth Anniversary of Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld.

Friedrich Spee(February 25, 1591 –August 7, 1635)was aGerman Jesuit andpoet, most noted as anopponent oftrials for witchcraft. Spee was the first person in his time who spoke strongly and with arguments against torture in general. He may be considered the first who ever gave good arguments why torture is not a way of obtainingtruthfrom someone undergoingpainfulquestioning.

Spee was born atKaiserswerth on theRhine. On finishing his early education atCologne, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1610, and, after prolonged studies and activity as a teacherat Trier,Fulda,Würzburg,Speyer,Worms andMainz, where he was ordainedpriest in 1622. He becameprofessor at theUniversity of Paderborn in 1624; from 1626 he taught at Speyer,Wesel, Trier and Cologne, and preached atPaderborn, Cologne andHildesheim.

An attempt to assassinate Spee was made atPeine in 1629. He resumed his activity as professor and priest at Paderborn and later at Cologne, and in 1633 moved to Trier. During the storming ofTrier by the imperial forces in March 1635, he distinguished himself in the care of the suffering, and died soon afterwards of aninfection contracted in a hospital.

Monday, November 04, 2013

Sunday, November 03, 2013

This maxi card was issued on 9.10.2013 at Helsinki, Finland to commemorate Philately Day or “Stamp Day”as the locals call it. The stamp is a personalised one by the Post Office in Helsinki. I had featured another maxi card about Philately Day 2013. The building featured on this card is the famous Lutheran Church in Helsinki.

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About Me

Hi, I am Vijay Kapre. Its nice collecting picture postcards. They tell you so much about the people and places around us. Happy Viewing. Those who want to contact me my email address is kaprevijay@gmail.com.